Phonestory.org presents the horrors that are caused by the production of electronic devices. After reading about the damage that the cultan trade does the Congo my first reaction was "wow I am so inclined to ever by an electronic device again". After the initial shock factor that was caused by the article wore off i realized that while it is a horrible situation the article did a great job triggering emotions and overriding any reason. Prevalent use of negative adjectives like horror and cheap, combined with dramatic red-toned pictures evokes strong negative emotions in the reader. While I don't question that the conditions are terrible the statement about the wages being terrible is actually a bit out of place, the congo minim wage is actually about .50$ USD a day getting 5$ would be a great deal for a Congo worker. Not to mention these people really need jobs, only about 25% of the total population is actually employed and significant percentage of that is due to the mining. When the article is talking about the mining conditions it calls the age (some as young as 8-15 years old) of the laborers “absolutely explotative” (which is not a word), in these countries children working is an expectation not an exception. I feel it is necessary to remember that in third world countries for the family to make enough money to sustain it’s self everyone has to work, including the children as young as possible. When the article is talking about export it complains about the buyers only verbally asking if coltan is from a conflict area and continuing with the purchase if the seller says no. I see two problems with this, one business is not conducted the same over there, it is possible there never was proof of where it came from. Second why would it be any benefit not to help out the conflict areas by refusing to buy from them. On top of all of this there is very little in the way of references in this article. This is just as bad as propaganda.

Sources
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/af/118996.htm   
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/af/118995.htm
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